SAN FRANCICO—Saturday, April 18, 2026, marked the 120th anniversary of 1906 7.9 magnitude earthquake that struck the San Francisco Bay Area. That earthquake occurred at 5:12 a.m.
During the incident, many buildings were destroyed because officials wished to create a fire break, but it caused the opposite effect. The earthquake ruptured water mains, leaving firefighters unable to help residents. Crews were untrained in explosives, using too much gunpowder. It caused the fires to spread faster to areas that were untouched. Over 80 percent to 90 percent of the city was destroyed, as San Francisco burned for three to four days.
Over 500 city blocks and approximately 25,000 to 28,000 buildings were destroyed. Over 200,000 to 300,000 people became homeless. An estimated 3,000 people died.
On Saturday, April 18, 2026, from 8:45 a.m. to 1:45 p.m., the San Francisco Fire Department held its annual citywide drill to prepare for the next earthquake.
Opening ceremonies started at 8:45 a.m. with speeches by dignitaries and fire command staff. It was followed by the drill from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. It ended between 1:05 p.m. and 1:45 p.m.
The San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living held the earthquake drill in the Excelsior District. San Francisco Fire Department and San Francisco Neighborhood Emergency Response Team (NERT) volunteers from across San Francisco conducted a day’s worth of stimulation drill to prepare for a catastrophic event.
Volunteers of NERT practiced search-and-rescue techniques, patient triage and other essential disaster-response skills during the “Spring Into Teamwork” citywide drill.
The SFFD exercised communications and commands functions to respond to large-scale earthquakes, including emergency reports from field companies and NERT teams receiving and processing at Battalion Station level with Battalion Chiefs.
There were interviews with NERT Program Instructors, San Francisco Fire Department Chiefs, NERT volunteers and fire command staff.
NERT was born after the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake. After the earthquake, people reached out to San Francisco Fire Department to get trained. More than 36 years later, NERT has trained over 40,000 volunteers.
NERT’s hands-on training program is available for free to anyone who lives or resides in San Francisco. Duties the NERT team have to perform are conducting light search-and-rescue, medical triage, and transport medical treatment facilities. NERT had been having its annual citywide drills since 1992. Anyone who is interested should visit the website: http://www.sf-fire.org/nert or call (415) 970-2022.
